• gig - songwriting

    LOST song gets trumped by LOST voice

    Irene writes,

    I had a song in the bag for the Creative Mornings Rotterdam session on Friday, 15 November – inspired by the theme, LOST. But, unfortunately, I LOST my voice due to a bout of flu with added complications and we had to cancel.

    We hope to be able to share a Two Doors Down version of the song with you soon. Meanwhile, here is some of the backstory.
     

    DID YOU KNOW?
    “As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,000 natively spoken languages existed worldwide. Most of these are minor languages in danger of extinction; one estimate published in 2004 expected that some 90% of the currently spoken languages will have become extinct by 2050.” (wikipedia)

    I do believe we can all play a part in rescuing languages from extinction by giving our mother tongue (first language) our full support. Other languages may serve us well, but our mother tongue serves to keep us fully human and connected to our roots and ourselves. That’s what our LOST song, “Mother tongue”, is all about.

    Here are the lyrics:
     

    MOTHER TONGUE

    Verse 1
    Mother tongue – faded and flickering
    Mother tongue – what’s to become of me?
    I sold you out to the highest bidder
    Mother tongue – I feel so dumb

    Verse 2
    Mother tongue – I am ashamed to say
    I lost respect for you along the way
    My heart went cold and I kept my distance
    Mother tongue – I did you wrong

    Bridge
    You taught me to say ‘thank you’ and ‘please’
    and helped me to stand on my own two feet.
    You taught me to speak up for what’s right and true
    and not to be afraid to say ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I’m here for you’

    Verse 3
    Mother tongue – let’s plan a grand reunion
    Mother tongue – I want to recommit
    I want to taste all life has to offer
    Mother tongue – you hold the key

    Coda
    Join me at the table as much as you are able
    Mother tongue
    I mean to keep you close so you keep me on my toes
    Mother, mother tongue

     


    RECOMMENDED READING/LISTENING

    onbeing.org
    David Treuer – Language Carries More Than Words

    brainpickings.org
    The Lost Words: An Illustrated Dictionary of Poetic Spells Reclaiming the Language of Nature

  • busking

    BTW … we did go busking on 24 August


     
    We set up here (in the shade of the tree, next to this huge artwork) and played for about an hour, entertaining the passersby on their way to and from the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, with our “straatartiestenvergunnen” (busking licence) at the ready.

    The highlight was meeting a father with his very sick little boy who were taking the air in the park next to the children’s hospital where they made regular and lengthy visits for treatment of a serious but repairable birth defect. A plucky dad and a plucky boy.

     
    And here’s Margriet surrounded by all our gear, post-busking.